Taberna del Alabardero presents traditional Andalusian cuisine with a touch of Basque influence, this being traceable back to the origins of the establishment’s founder and owner, Luis de Lezama. Lezama also owns restaurants in Madrid, Marbella, Washington, Seattle and Bilbao.

The Seville restaurant is rather special insofar that it encompasses a series of additional activities such as a catering service and a School of Hostelry, with 160 cookery students. These students are fully integrated members of the Taberna del Alabardero kitchen staff and come into contact with customers right from the start. The school has produced some great chefs, including winners of Michelin stars. “I like going out to eat at any restaurant run by old students from the school; it gives me such a thrill to see them succeeding as chefs and entrepreneurs”, says Miguel Prieto.

“In the end every dish is an example of artistic expression. There are technical aspects like timing, temperature and knowledge of the raw materials that can be picked up by anyone, but apart from that there is another, artistic part to do with food presentation that is more difficult to learn because it involves each individual’s personal form of expressing themselves.

“Herbs are vital; they are the subtleties of the composition, the small brushstrokes which bring out the image”. For Miguel there are always secrets in the kitchen, “which I am obviously not going to reveal”.

On the Andalusian agrofood scene there are many products of excellent quality, “but I would draw attention to La Cigala extra quality rice. It is packed in an innovative way, in a vacuum pack. This is very practical in all kitchens, because that way it conserves all the nutritional properties of the rice, it keeps out moisture and keeps the product fresh. La Cigala, which belongs to Herba, is the only company in Spain with the high performance processing plant capable of offering products in this format. And rice can be used to make numerous dishes: stock, paella, dressings, risotto…”. Restaurant Taberna del Alabardero (Sevilla). Tlf: (+34) 954 502 721.